Jessie Ray Short’s extremely tall relative, who was internationally known as the “Willow Bunch Giant,” made headlines more than 100 years ago.

He’s now back in the spotlight because of her new film, which is to be featured Wednesday at the Regina International Film Festival and Awards (RIFFA), running until Saturday at multiple venues.

Moon Noonk Edouard is a 35-minute film about Edouard Beaupré, a former circus performer who stood 8-foot-3 and was from the town of Willow Bunch (190 kilometres southwest of Regina).

The movie, produced by the National Film Board, was nominated in the biography category. It uses archival footage and re-enactments to tell the story of this “gentle” giant who died of health complications at age 23, retracing the path from his Saskatchewan hometown to his tragic death at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, to his body’s posthumous journey.

Short says she’s happy the movie will be available for an in-person screening as part of RIFFA’S Across Provinces short film program, to be presented at the RCMP Heritage Centre between 3 and 5 p.m. on Wednesday.

“I’m so happy and relieved because so many people in Saskatchewan have worked on this film, either as cast and crew or relatives, friends and family,” she said.

“I know people in Saskatchewan are pretty interested in the story.”

In her film, Short wants the focus to be more on her great-grand-uncle Beaupré as a person, not as a spectacle, a circus freak or strongman.

She wanted to share some of the very specific stories about him with the public. The Regina-based filmmaker documented her family members’ memories and stories about Beaupré’s life and his death.

“(I really wanted) to make him feel like a person, a human being with his own thoughts and feelings,” she said.

The film helped Short reconnect with her roots, and with others in unexpected ways.

Short was unexpectedly pleased to make a connection with the mother of one of the child actors, who said she really liked the movie.

“(The mother) said she was inspired to look into her own family history,” noted Short, who hopes other people are also motivated to dig up those stories. “Everybody has something really interesting in their family like that. Just connecting with people on a really human level is what I’m hoping for.”

Short didn’t realize how well known her late relative was in Canada until she started working with some francophone Indigenous artists/curators in Quebec from 2012 to 2014. When he came up as a topic of conversation, she was surprised they had heard of him, while the artists/curators were surprised Short was related to Beaupré.

She says this “small, family thing had a whole life outside of us.”

Not many people know about the Willow Bunch Giant’s Michif heritage, but Short wanted to be more subtle in her approach.

“I hope people can pick up on some of it,” said Short, noting the film includes items like moccasins, which were commissioned to commemorate him.

Now that she’s completed the film, Short says she wonders if anyone has letters written by her great-grand-uncle. She hopes they will get in touch if they do.

“He could read and write, so he actually wrote a lot and wrote letters home, but all were lost,” she said. “But it tells me that there’s probably a letter by him somewhere. It would be really cool if somebody had that.”

Short says a community historian at the St. Louis Fair, Mike Truax, showed her a business card for Beaupré as part of the research for her film.

“That kind of stuff is just really fascinating. I’m really hoping that if there’s any more little tidbits of information, that people try to find me,” said Short, who added she is very connected with the Willow Bunch Museum.

If Short could ask one question to her late relative, she’d want to learn about his favourite experience when he was travelling.

“I think he got to travel, but he also kind of had to hide a lot …” she said. “I wonder what he saw and experienced (in life) that really stuck.”